


and life

by epsiloneridani



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post Victory and Death, Victory and Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:40:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24401473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epsiloneridani/pseuds/epsiloneridani
Summary: The Republic has fallen. That haunted moon is behind them.For Rex and Ahsoka, the hardest part is learning to live in the aftermath.
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 141





	and life

**Author's Note:**

> Something of a sequel to [and death ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24012520)

Since the ship went down, space feels so cold.

Rex wraps his arms around himself and huddles into the corner of his bunk. Bo-Katan’s ship isn’t a large craft, so most of her small crew sleeps in double berths situated in three adjacent rooms. It was only by her kindness and consideration that he and Ahsoka were granted full use of this one.

He never thought he’d be so grateful for solitude. As an officer, he had access to personal quarters; most of the time, they went unused. He preferred to be in the barracks with the rest of his men: to have Fives curled up against his side, snoring softly, to stir awake in the middle of the night to the warm weight of Jesse sprawled across his chest.

He preferred to be with his brothers.

All of his brothers are gone.

Rex tugs the blanket up over his shoulders and curls his hands into it. It’s rough, scratchy, almost like the standard-issue GAR fabric Hardcase always said was made to exfoliate instead of insulate.

His breath stops. His eyes burn. He blinks until it fades.

No more tears today.

Ahsoka’s steps are so soft he almost doesn’t hear them until she’s easing onto the bed beside him. Her hands find his through the thin fabric of the blanket. “Hey, Rex,” she says, and squeezes. He swallows against the lump swelling in his throat.

No more tears today.

“Hey, kid,” he manages. It’s low and a little choked. He pulls away to sit up more fully, then holds out an arm for her to settle under. It’s become a familiar routine, this closeness. “How’s Lady Kryze?”

Ahsoka shrugs and drops her head to his shoulder. “Okay,” she says. “Not feeling very talkative.”

At least Mandalore is free – or what’s left of it. “What’s her plan?” Rex asks.

Ahsoka blows out a breath. “She didn’t tell me.”

“Oh.”

“She’s going to get us IDs, though. And travel documents. They’ll be good for a while, so we’ll be able to travel freely.”

Freely. It’s the first time in his life he gets to choose where to go and who to be and what he wants to do. He thought about it once, after Cut, and then more, after Fives. Maybe he was weeding a garden or chasing or a chicken or sprawling out in the sand just to feel the sun on his face. Maybe he rode the intergalactic lanes and watched the stars streak by and soared into unexplored space.

No matter the dream, his brothers were always there beside him.

All of his brothers are gone.

“That’s good,” Rex says. His breath hitches. “That’s good. We’ll avoid tipping off the Imperials.”

Cody’s one of them now.

Ahsoka nods slightly without raising her head, just the briefest brush against his shoulder. The fabric of his shirt is cool and soft, so unlike the bodysuit he’s been living and breathing in almost every day of his life. He guesses he should thank Bo-Katan for getting them both new clothes, for helping them blend in, for helping them escape that moon and all of those fresh graves.

Jesse’s vacant eyes will haunt him until his dying day.

“What’s our plan?” Ahsoka asks, and it’s that nagging ‘where to go’ and ‘what to do next’ that he hasn’t been able to bring himself to talk about. It’s not that he doesn’t know what he wants to do. It’s that he does.

And it could very well get them both killed.

Rex sighs.

“Rex?”

“My brothers,” Rex says. “I want to go back for them.”

To her credit, Ahsoka doesn’t tell him they can’t. She just nods again. Maybe he should be saying it himself. “I know,” she croaks. “Me too.”

Rex rests his cheek against her montrals. “What is it, Ahsoka?” he asks, and she takes an unsteady breath. He wraps a hand around her wrist and squeezes. So many brothers and only one sister. At least she’s still alive. “Tell me.”

“There was a message,” she blurts. Her voice cracks. “Master Obi-Wan sent out a message from the Temple, warning the Jedi not to come back.”

“What?”

Ahsoka swallows thickly. “The Sith,” she says. “He activated the beacon at the Temple, to recall the Jedi.”

To bring them home to be slaughtered. Rex’s heart twists. He holds her a little tighter. “Master Obi-Wan must have changed it,” Ahsoka whispers. “There’s a message – I couldn’t watch all of it. I couldn’t…”

If Kenobi was inside the Temple when the 501st marched on it, then the odds are he never made it back out.

“You don’t have to,” Rex says.

“Yes,” she says. “I do. I have to know.”

For a moment, it’s achingly silent.

“I’ll watch it with you,” he says at last. “C’mon _vod’ika_.”

The recording is short. Kenobi looks haggard, exhausted. Rex wonders how he made it off Utapau and to the Temple on Coruscant. He doesn’t wonder why he went there.

There is nothing more quintessentially Kenobi than self-sacrifice.

The transmission ends. Ahsoka bows her head.

“It’s okay,” Rex says, and wraps his arms around her and pulls her to him. She presses her face to his chest and curls her fingers into the folds of his shirt. It reminds him of all the little brothers he held on Kamino after they came back from a live-fire exercise for the first time. Too loud.

Too much.

“Just breathe,” Rex murmurs, and rubs careful circles into her back. “I’m here.”

A sob shakes her shoulders. She sucks in a strangled breath and begins to push away but he keeps his arms around her, gentle and firm, and she stops short.

“I’m here,” Rex says again. “I’ve got you.”

All of the fight drains out of her frame. Ahsoka collapses against him. It takes her a moment, a suffocating beat, and then her breath hitches and she gives in to the grief and lets herself cry. Rex whispers soothing words – holds her close.

For now, he’ll be strong enough for them both.

\--


End file.
